Yesterday after church I went with Denis to a buffet. It was hosted by a caterer in the area that wanted to get more exposure by having people taste their stuff. The catering company is owned and run by Filipinos, and the food they serve is Filipino as well. A classmate of Denis’ from his anesthesia program is related to the caterers, so she invited him to come.
The dinner was at a Catholic church nearby. After finding the correct door to go in, we got right to the food. The line started with pancit, which is stir-fried noodles. I really like these, so I knew that would be fine. Then came some small lumipa (the Filipino version of egg rolls). Next was a pot of black soup. The server said, “Want some chocolate soup?” I smiled and said, “I know what that is.” It was blood soup. I took some anyway, because I felt a little conspicuous as the only non-Filipino there. There were some little rolls on the table next to the blood soup. Farther down the line was another soup, and a bowl of something that was presented like a salad. I took some of everything.
Here is what it looked like. After the picture, I’ll tell you what it tasted like.
The salad-looking thing at 10 o’clock in the picture was a bowl of tofu and pork skin. The tofu was okay. The pork skin was one of the strangest textures of food I have had in my entire life. Denis kept joking with me that it was pig ear. I’m still not sure if he was serious or not, because it really did feel like chewing on an ear (or at least what I imagine it would be like to chew on an ear.)
The soup at the top of the picture was a creamy rice and chicken soup. It rocked! I ate ALL of that.
The blood soup wasn’t that bad. The liquid part sort of tasted like gravy, but with a liver flavor to it. The chunks in the soup were big ol’ cubes of fat. After eating one and feeling kind of queazy, I didn’t try another. I did eat all the liquid though.
The pancit was good. If you’re ever at a Filipino restaurant and don’t know what to get, go for pancit. It’s always safe. 
The lumpia (egg rolls) were also good, as was the little roll (which I don’t remember the name of). Dessert was also really good. It was sticky rice (very sweet and brown-sugary) with fresh mango slices and ice cream.
I was absolutely stuffed at the end of things. And pretty proud of myself for eating all that strange food.
But I don’t think I like eating ears. Next time, I’ll say I’m allergic.
